Many families reimagine their homes during pandemic
When COVID-19 struck earlier this year, college students and even some young professionals living in large cities moved home with their parents and, in other cases, families brought their elderly loved ones home from the senior communities, trying to keep everyone healthy and safe.
But all of this rearranging of living spaces presented challenges. Families may have had enough beds, but what about places to take virtual classes and continue to make a living, also via the computer? And when every day was done, where could they go to relax and chill in front of a movie or play a game?
During those initial months, many solutions were hastily arranged and makeshift, at best. But now, word is being passed about what worked and what didn't and how everyone can adapt to these unusual, very difficult times.
Debora Watson, owner of Acanthus Design Group in Barrington (www.acanthusdesigninteriors.com), has a teenage son and a teenage daughter who both needed to study and attend high school classes from home, while she needed to attend to her clients as best she could, also from home.
“I suddenly needed to create two study areas and one work area within my home,” she related. “My son already had a desk in his room but, at the time, he generally used it to stack up clothes. So, we had to unearth the desk and he was able to study and attend Zoom classes there, using the iPad issued by the school district. He was a senior and managed to finish his high school education virtually and because of COVID, he is studying at Harper College this year instead of going away.
“My daughter, on the other hand, didn't have a desk in her room. In fact, she usually studied on the dining room table. So, I started shopping virtually and found a shadowbox desk that fits her personality perfectly — on Facebook Marketplace. She can slide favorite artwork and even pictures of her favorite bands under the glass top,” Watson said.
“I see both spaces as not only necessary homework/education areas, but also as personalized retreats,” she continued. “The beautiful artwork and special lighting and lamps we added are conducive to being relaxed, yet motivated. Letting my daughter paint the side of her collectibles cabinet also gave her a sense of inner peace and autonomy in a world that seems a bit out of control.”
In the privacy of her bedroom, Watson's daughter even has been able to take music lessons using Zoom.
Watson also managed to furnish a workspace for herself in a quiet corner of her L-shaped living room/dining room.
“We don't have a television in that room. It is on our lower level, so I can actually work there, even when the kids want to relax,” she explained.
“It took me between eight and 10 weeks to find our footing during this very shattering time and furnish our three workspaces. We had to revamp our whole mindset to make it work,” Watson admitted. “We had to shift our priorities and shop for practical furniture with more drawers and doors for storage. But now we have very practical furniture for the long-term and whatever happens.”
Michael Walsh, owner of O'Reilly's Furniture and Amish Gallery in Libertyville (www.oreillysfurniture.com), understands. Many recent customers decided that their furniture no longer fit their needs and needed to be replaced as they struggled to create space within their homes for work and studies, alongside space for leisure pursuits.
“At the beginning of the pandemic we literally doubled our business in home office furniture as people sought to upgrade or create home offices. We had so much demand that we had to restrict the sale of certain items from our sales floor,” Walsh said. “But the buyers' attention has been, almost exclusively, on office, family room and kitchen/dining room furniture.”
O'Reilly's sells high quality, traditional wood furniture, much of which is handmade by Amish craftsmen.
Bathrooms are also getting attention, particularly by those who now have older relatives sharing their home. Many are finally choosing to replace their aging bathtubs with walk-in showers in order to ensure that no one is injured trying to get in and out of the tub.
Few have the time or inclination to enjoy a lengthy soak, so why take the chance on a tub/shower combination when they just want to take a shower?
Besides, older homeowners often become fearful of climbing in and out of a tub that doubles as a shower. They hear horror stories about others who have fallen during this daily chore and don't want the same fate to befall them. Or, even worse, they have already fallen and don't want to do it again, according to Tim Niesen, sales manager at Bath Planet of Chicagoland (www.bathplanetchicago.com), based in Streamwood.
Bath Planet is a wet area specialist, so it has been the solution for many. They offer stylish, cost-effective, low-maintenance acrylic bath improvements. Many Bath Planet products install right over the existing wall tile and chipped or faded tub or shower for maximum cost-effectiveness and minimum mess. When a tub is being replaced with a walk-in shower, the tub is cut into two or three pieces and hauled away before the new shower base is installed, followed by the wall pieces.
Bath Planet offers replacement tubs and shower bases in a wide selection of colors, sizes and styles to add value to the bathroom within your home. Bath Planet also has a full-line of accessibility products and aging-in-place bath systems to ensure independent living for as long as possible. Roll-in showers, walk-in tubs, soaking tubs and even jetted tubs are all available.
“Our products have been huge for elderly people, in particular, because research has shown that 80% of sicknesses are transferred in conventional tile bathrooms and that doesn't happen as readily in nonporous acrylic environments,” Niesen said.